Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by BCS Wealth Management

Key Points

• BCS Wealth Management cut its Alphabet stake by 50.3% in the first quarter, leaving it with 5,629 shares valued at about $1.62 million after selling 5,695 shares.
• Alphabet is still drawing mixed but mostly positive Wall Street attention, with multiple analysts raising price targets and MarketBeat showing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target price of $413.13.
• Recent company news highlights both tailwinds and risks: investors are encouraged by rising ad revenue and an Apple AI payment deal, while concerns linger over AI talent departures and tougher publisher negotiations.

BCS Wealth Management lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 50.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,629 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,695 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s growth outlook, pointing to rising advertising revenue and AI-driven ad tools as support for further upside. Alphabet Benefits From Rising Advertising Revenues: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is joining the Dow were viewed as a sign of prestige and long-term institutional support for the stock. Google Parent Alphabet Is Joining the Dow. Time to Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly paying Alphabet about $1 billion a year to use Gemini in Siri, highlighting another monetization path for Google’s AI platform even if the deal is smaller than Google’s search-payment arrangement with Apple. Apple Is Paying Google $1 Billion a Year for AI. Here's Who the Real Winner Is.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush said the recent sell-off in major AI names looks more like short-term investor impatience than a breakdown in the AI trade, suggesting the broader pullback may be a buying opportunity. Wedbush brushes off tech sell-off as buying chance in multi-year AI bull run
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and upgraded portfolio-tracking features, which improve the product offering but are unlikely to move the stock on their own. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet is facing renewed concern over AI talent departures, including reports of senior researchers leaving for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI, which raises questions about execution in Gemini and its broader AI strategy. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also drawing criticism for tougher negotiations with publishers over AI content access, potentially worsening relations with media partners already seeing traffic declines from AI search changes. Google looks to bleed publishers with new AI partnerships that would cull their content
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say AI-focused stocks, including Alphabet, are under pressure as investors question whether the “all-in on AI” trade has gone too far in the near term. PLTR, GOOG and MSFT Forecasts – AI Names Struggling at the Moment

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. HSBC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, President Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 151,523 shares of company stock valued at $4,863,526. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $337.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $171.73 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $368.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $333.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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